News

QuidditchUK is pleased to announce that the British Quidditch Cup 2018 will take place on the weekend of 24th-25th March at Brookes Sport Botley, Oxford.

After an extensive bidding process Brookes Sport was selected due to the excellent facilities onsite, including high grade sporting pitches and indoor areas that can cater to a BQC sized crowd of players and volunteers. The ease of accessibility to Oxford for UK teams as a whole and previous relationships built by QuidditchUK with suppliers and vendors within the Oxford area from previous tournaments made this an excellent venue for us to work with.

This season’s BQC promises to be the best yet, with a high quality venue set to deliver the best quidditch the United Kingdom has to offer.

Other venues that submitted bids to host BQC 2018 included the Rugeley Leisure Centre, Wyncote Sports Ground Liverpool and Bath Recreation Ground. Having hosted the previous two BQCs, Rugeley Leisure Centre is a venue QuidditchUK maintain a fantastic working relationship with however it was felt that this season called for a different venue. Wyncote Sports Ground and Bath Recreation Ground both submitted strong bids but were ultimately deemed impractical due to a mixture of factors. Liverpool’s Wyncote Sports Ground had limited availability and would have found it difficult to facilitate the required number of pitches for BQC 2018. Despite this, Liverpool stood out as an excellent venue for events and we’re looking forward to potentially working with them on future tournaments. Similarly, despite the excellent quality of the sports grounds available at Bath Recreation Ground, the venue size would have been too small to host a tournament at the scale of BQC.

More information about BQC 2018 will be released after the regional tournaments have concluded. In the meantime if you have BQC related questions please contact events@quidditchuk.org.

The General Forum is an opportunity for clubs to discuss points provided by the wider community with QuidditchUK and for the next season will be occurring almost exclusively on the second Wednesday of every other month. These are the dates QuidditchUK turn to the clubs to hear your thoughts and opinions, so make sure you use the opportunity.

The General Forum for the 2017/18 season will be hosted on:
18th October 2017
13th December 2017
14th February 2018
11th April 2018
13th June 2018
15th August 2018

Put these dates into your club calendar, set email reminders to be free nearer the time and make sure your whole club is aware! QuidditchUK will email clubs asking them to confirm their attendance to General Forums in the run up to the event.

For the 2017/18 season the number of spots for the British Quidditch Cup allocated to each region will be determined by how many teams attend each regional. The more teams that attend a regional, the more spots that region will be given. The number of spots for BQC 2018 will remain at 32 total teams.

The way the number of spots each region gets at BQC will be decided is:

(Number of teams that attend Northern ÷ Total number of teams that attended both regionals) x 32 = Number of Northern Spots

(Number of teams that attend Southern ÷ Total number of teams that attended both regionals) x 32 = Number of Southern Spots

NB: If the number of spots given in the equation is a decimal, it will be rounded appropriately.

The decision to allocate spots for BQC proportional to the size of each regional was reached after discussions between the Gameplay Department taking into consideration feedback given by club representatives at the General Forum in the tail-end of the 2016/17 season. Despite clubs slightly favouring a spot allocation based on how a respective region performed at BQC and Dev Cup over proportional representation, the decision was made to base the allocation on regional size to account for the creation of new teams and the heavy roster changes seen over summer. This system also means there will be no readjusting of the regional boundaries for the 2017/18 season.

As we kick off the 2017/2018 season QuidditchUK are proud to announce a partnership with SISU Europe which will extend to all of our members.

From October 2nd – October 12th, SISU are offering an exclusive deal to all QuidditchUK members with a 20% discount across all of their mouth-guards and accessories directly from their website.

As one of the best mouth-guards on the market, SISU have been a staple amongst quidditch players for a couple of years now; and with recruitment taking place all over the UK, the 2nd to the 12th of October will be the best time for you and your freshers to get one at a reduced price.

QuidditchUK will be releasing the discount code to our members soon. Watch this space!

QuidditchUK are looking to build on the fantastic achievements of Team UK over this summer and ensure that our national squad has all of the support we can give them to succeed on a global scale. Towards that end, we have several announcements about the administrative and support structure behind the national team.

Firstly, we are sad to announce some changes in personnel. Tom Heynes will be stepping down as Team UK Manager and Dugald Young will be replaced by Ben Morton as Seeker Coach. Head Coach Emily Oughtibridge said:

I would like to thank both Tom and Dugald for their contributions to Team UK over the last few of years. They have both changed our game for the better. Without Tom’s hard work behind the scenes to organise everything we do, we could not have had the successes we have achieved. Dugald is one of the best coaches I know and his drive to make seeking both a science and an art has made Team UK one of the best when the snitch is on pitch. It is a pity to see these two leave their roles but I wish them all the very best for their futures.

Secondly, we have implemented a new Selection Process for 2017/18 which we feel will allow the very best players to be selected for the national team, but will also increase transparency around selection criteria and enable players and coaches at club level to target key skills and competencies and improve the quality of gameplay across the board.

Finally, we will be making several changes to the administrative structure of Team UK, including the introduction of a new Research and Analysis team in order to support our coaches and maximise the potential of our athletes to succeed on an international stage. In future, the organisation of Team UK will be split into three strands, as outlined below.

Coaches

Under the leadership of Head Coach Emily Oughtibridge, the Team UK coaches will continue to be responsible for all selection and gameplay decisions within Team UK.

Administration

The Team UK administration team comprises three volunteer administrators who each take responsibility for one of: organising all logistical elements of tournament attendance; organising Team UK training weekends; and organising Expansion Squad training weekends.

Research and Analysis

Following the successful pilot at European Games, QuidditchUK are aiming to implement a more comprehensive system of data-oriented support for the Team UK coaches and players. The Research and Analysis team will also include Team UK scouts, who will be involved in the implementation of our selection process.

We hope that you will join us in congratulating everyone involved in Team UK for their great achievements this summer and consider getting involved behind the scenes in the lead up to World Cup 2018.

For the 2018/19 season, QuidditchUK will require a consistent referee quota across all of our events. Every team will be expected to provide a certain number of referees based on their performance in the 2017/18 season. The following is the minimum match official quota for each team attending Southern Cup, Northern Cup, or British Quidditch Cup.

If your team attended BQC 2018 AND made the Upper Bracket
1 Head Referee
1 Assistant Referee
2 Snitch OR First Aider OR Assistant Referee OR Snitch Referee

All referees/snitches given must be qualified by the International Quidditch Association or they will not be counted towards the quota. All unqualified volunteers (goal referees, timekeepers and scorekeepers) must have read, completed, and submitted the QuidditchUK Supplementary Match Officials Form.

If you feel your team cannot meet these quotas then do not hesitate to contact gameplay@quidditchuk.org where you can apply for reduced quotas. The Gameplay Department, Executive Management Team and Tournament Committee will assess the application and give a decision on your quota.

Failure to meet the agreed quota for your team will lead to disqualification from the tournament.

We are excited to announce that, during the 2017/18 season, QuidditchUK is launching an emergency fund to which member clubs can apply in the case of unexpected financial hardship.

QuidditchUK understands that a variety of unpredictable situations can cause unexpected logistical and financial problems for both clubs and players. While we can often do little to prevent such an event in advance, the organisation is able to give some financial assistance to clubs to mitigate part of the impact associated with emergencies, accidents and the failure of external bodies.

Applications to the Emergency Fund will be assessed on a case-by-case basis by QuidditchUK’s EMT and can be made for amounts up to £500. The full eligibility criteria and application form can be found on the QuidditchUK Emergency Fund page.

Welcome to the QuidditchUK 2017/18 season and welcome to the new QuidditchUK Website!

After months of tireless work we’re happy to release the website to the public and along with it officially begin the 2017/18 QuidditchUK season. The season will run until the 31st of July 2018 and Individual, Club and Team membership is now open. As previously announced, membership fees have stayed the same as the 2016/17 season, making them:
Individual Membership: £15
Club Membership: £65
Team Membership: £30
Memberships can be purchased in our brand new Shop and will be visible on our Clubs page once approved by an admin.

With the start of the new season we are also glad to finally announce the amendments to the IQA Rulebook that QuidditchUK will be using. Details on the amendments can be found on our Amendments page and applications for IQA Referee Test Codes can be made on the Refereeing page.

Alongside the launch of the new QuidditchUK Website we are happy to announce that the email issues that have resulted in messages from some accounts bouncing back should have now been resolved. If you experience any further issues emailing QuidditchUK please use the Contact Us form.

As with any new website launch there will be bugs and issues, please bear with us whilst we work through these and if you find any issues please get in touch by emailing technology@quidditchuk.org or using our Contact Us form. We are already aware of some issues with the website, for instance it does not work well with mobile or small screens and we will be working hard to resolve any issues and add new content to the website over the next few weeks.

QuidditchUK are excited to again announce the return of the Hooch Initiative for the 2017/18 quidditch season. The initiative aims to match new clubs with more established groups from across the country, providing a sustainable foundation for growth and success in the future. This is achieved through the use of short and long term objectives designed to integrate new players into the national Quidditch community.

In previous years, the initiative has resulted in new organisations flourishing after guidance from their parent teams, and previous participants include Warwick Quidditch Club and Bristol Quidditch Club.

To register interest and join this season’s Hooch Initiative as a new club please fill in this form by 30/09/17.

To register interest and join this season’s Hooch Initiative as an established club please fill in this form by 30/09/17.

As in previous seasons, QuidditchUK has produced a Hooch Guide for teams taking part which can be found here.

New to the Hooch Initiative for this season, clubs may receive benefits from QuidditchUK by taking part. Mentoring clubs will be offered a partial refund on their team membership fee on completion of a Hooch Hub by 31/01/18. As well as the obvious benefits to training, recruitment, and development, new clubs may also enter a competition for the loan of a set of hoops for their initial season and will receive support from the QuidditchUK PR department to spread their message in the press.

Are you a member of a new team and want to get involved in the Hooch Initiative? Email Becca Short at hooch@quidditchuk.org to find out more information.

As many of you will have noticed this summer QuidditchUK has been relatively quiet, but fear not, we have been busy working away on a whole raft of news for you that will be coming out over the next few weeks.

Website

The biggest change you will notice over the next few weeks is QuidditchUK moving to a new website. Designed by the talented Catherine Grace, the new website has been in development for the past few months, and although it will no doubt come with growing pains, it should allow QuidditchUK to communicate far more effectively with the community.

Memberships

Once the new website is live, membership for the 2017/18 season will be purchasable and QuidditchUK are delighted to announce that all membership fees will be the same as the 2016/17 season. That is:
Individual Membership: £15
Club Membership (includes 1 free team and entrance to either Southern or Northern Cup): £65
Team Membership: £30

Rulebook

For the 2017/18 season QuidditchUK will be using the IQA 2016-2018 rulebook with amendments. We are also pleased to announce that for anyone who qualified as a match official in the 2016/17 season, the qualification will carry over to this season due to the rulebooks not being different enough to warrant retesting. More information regarding the amendments and the rulebook for the 2017/18 season will be released imminently.